Monday, 12 March 2012

Doonesbury, always at the cutting edge of the US progressive body politic, had its syndicated comic strip banned in some of the newspapers in which it is syndicated.

[...]cartoonist Garry Trudeau has defended his cartoon strip about abortion, which several US newspapers are refusing to run, saying he felt compelled to respond to the way Republicans across America are undermining women's healthcare rights.

The strip, published on Monday and scheduled to run all week, has been rejected by several papers, while others said they were switching it from the comic section to the editorial page.

In an email exchange with the Guardian, Trudeau expressed dismay over the papers' decision but was unrepentant, describing as "appalling" and "insane" Republican state moves on women's healthcare.

The issue? US state laws that force women seeking a pregnancy termination to subject themselves to an ultrasound scan, or sonogram and to view it, in the presence of medical staff.